Chapter 5 - Breaking Point
"Alyssa!" Gavin yelled, sprinting toward the bedroom.
I hurried after him, pulling the small emergency flashlight from the pocket of my housecoat. I clicked it on, the beam cutting through the darkness.
Alyssa was sitting on the floor beside the oversized oak dresser. She was clutching her ankle, her face pale and twisted in pain. An open suitcase lay on the bed, clothes thrown haphazardly around it. In her rush to pack in the dark, she had tripped over Gavin's heavy leather briefcase.
The briefcase had spilled open.
Papers were scattered everywhere.
Alyssa ignored her ankle. She reached out and grabbed a handful of the papers. Even in the dim light of my flashlight, the bright red and yellow warning banners were obvious.
Credit card bills. Auto loan defaults. And one very official-looking document from the county tax assessor.
"Alyssa, don't look at those," Gavin begged, dropping to his knees and trying to gather the papers.
She slapped his hands away. She held the county tax document up to the beam of my flashlight.
She read it aloud, her voice trembling. "Notice of Intent to Foreclose. Delinquent Property Taxes for the years 2023 to 2026. Total amount due..." She gasped. "Thirty-two thousand dollars?"
She looked up at me. "Eleanor... you didn't pay the property taxes?"
My heart stopped.
"I pay them every year," I said, my voice suddenly fragile. "They are automatically deducted from my savings account in January."
Gavin sat back on his heels, burying his face in his hands. He was sobbing now, deep, ugly sounds.
"Gavin?" I demanded, stepping closer. "What did you do?"
He didn't answer.
I grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at me. "What did you do with the tax money, Gavin?!"
"I changed the routing number," he confessed, barely audible. "Two years ago. When you asked me to help you set up the new online banking portal. I diverted the property tax auto-pay into my own checking account. I was supposed to make a massive return on a crypto investment, Mom. I was going to pay it back before the county even noticed!"
The air in the room vanished.
He hadn't just lived off me. He had actively robbed me. He had let the county put a lien on the house Walter and I built with our bare hands, just to fund his foolish gambling.
Alyssa slowly pushed herself up, leaning against the bedpost. She wasn't angry anymore. She looked terrified.
"They're going to take the house," Alyssa whispered. "We have nowhere to go."
"I can fix it!" Gavin cried, scrambling to his feet. "Mom, if you just sign the deed over to me, I can get the equity loan, pay off the taxes, and clear the debt! We can save the house!"
He was still trying to con me. Even now.
I looked at my son, and for the first time in sixty-eight years, I didn't see my child. I saw a parasite.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out Walter's brass wrench keychain.
"You have until tomorrow morning to pack your things, Gavin," I said quietly.
"Mom, you can't kick me out! It's my house too!"
"No," I said. "It's my house. And tomorrow, I'm calling the police."
Alyssa let out a strange, choked sob. She reached into her purse on the bed and pulled out a small white plastic stick. She held it out to me.
May you like
There were two pink lines on it.
"You can't throw him out," Alyssa cried. "I'm pregnant."
